Unparalleled Evildoer

Chapter 168 The plan is revealed

The disciples of Xiandao Academy were fighting with the guards unarmed outside the valley and suffered heavy losses. After Jiang Yuan and others rushed back, they followed him to break out and rushed into the valley. Before they could catch their breath, they were hit by the fierce attack of the cavalry. The guards were chasing them from behind. They had no way to retreat and could only grit their teeth and fight to the death. If they fought alone, the disciples of Xiandao Academy were far superior to these cavalrymen in front of them, but these cavalrymen were well-trained, wearing armor, holding long weapons, and forming a formation. Their power was amazing. Although some cavalrymen were shot off their horses, others would come flying and stab them. For a while, more than half of the remaining disciples of Xiandao Academy were stabbed to death, hit to death, or trampled to death. Their screams were drowned in the rumbling noise.

Jiang Yuan glanced around angrily, knowing that he had fallen into the trap of that group of old foxes, allowing them to take advantage of his opportunity and kill him by surprise. If this continued, there would be no disciples left. Although he didn't care how many people died, what would happen to the reputation of the Xiandao Academy in the future? More importantly, his own dream of ascending to heaven would be destroyed. Thinking of this, he roared and flew up suddenly. The coldness around him doubled, and blue light surged. The Beiming Yinhuo Sword shone brightly and danced in the air. The cavalrymen who were rushing over saw this, and wanted to turn their horses' heads around, but it was too late. They were hit by the sword light, and blood spurted out immediately. Both the man and the horse were headed and separated. In a moment, they had to fight their way out.

At this moment, he felt a gust of wind coming from the right, and it was too fast. He didn't have time to think. The fire sword in his right hand was spinning, and there were continuous "clang" sounds and sparks. It was actually an invisible "shadowless needle". He knew that Xiao Jinghong must be hiding among the cavalry and attacking him secretly. He shouted, "You despicable villain, get out of here!" He turned over quickly, waving his long sword to sweep towards the cavalry on the right. Wherever he passed, heads turned and there was a bloody storm.

With a "teng" sound, a person flew up from behind Jiang Yuan. He was so close that the air was turbulent. Dozens of "invisible needles" shot at the major acupoints behind Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan turned around to block it but it was too late. His body instantly condensed into a spherical ice shield. The ice shield shattered with a "crack" and flew in all directions. Jiang Yuan turned back and hit it back, "Tiansha Pavilion, nothing more than this!" The blue light was like lightning, whistling towards the cavalry transformed by Xiao Jinghong in the air.

Xiao Jinghong brandished his long sword and slashed angrily. With a "clang", the long sword broke into several pieces. Xiao Jinghong's arm went numb, his knuckles were cracked, and his body fell backwards. The icy air created a strong wind and spread in all directions. He got too close to the cavalry and was knocked off his horse by the true qi.

Jiang Yuan didn't wait for him to catch his breath, and another sword came at him like lightning. At this moment, his body shook, and an iron fan hit his back with a bang. Jiang Yuan immediately felt the blood churning in his chest, and his bones were about to break. He immediately spit out a mouthful of blood. Xiao Jinghong took the opportunity to dodge the ice sword and hit back with another dense cyclone.

The iron fan was launched just as the ice cover was shattering, blending in with the surroundings and moving at an incredibly fast speed, making it difficult to detect. Jiang Yuan was about to kill Xiao Jinghong with one sword, but he was careless and was hit.

Jiang Yuan was horrified. The force of the attack just now was enough to kill him if it weren't for his strong muscles and powerful internal strength. Without giving it any time to think, he stood up and shook off the 'Invisible Needle'. His two swords spun, and two arcs of light swept behind him, killing several people in an instant. The iron fan bounced back and fell into the hands of the cavalryman. In a blink of an eye, the cavalryman disappeared from the horse's back.

The same was true for Daoxuan. Not only was he trapped in heavy siege, but there were also masters of cultivation hiding among them, forcing him to be cautious and not dare to attack rashly. Such a stalemate would only backfire and make His Majesty believe their false accusations. He glanced around and saw Yang Ruihe directing the guards not far away. If he could capture him, he would certainly order the guards to stop, so that His Majesty could hear his explanation. Thinking of this, he swung his sword and knocked down a circle of guards. He leaped several feet high, displayed his light skills, and rushed towards Yang Ruihe like a flying wild goose, stepping on the guards' spears and lances.

Seeing Daoxuan swinging his sword at him, Yang Ruihe shouted, "Shoot that demon to death with a volley of arrows!" A dense rain of arrows shot into the sky. Daoxuan was prepared when he saw the arrows coming at him. He used his Dangkong Jue technique without stopping. The air exploded one after another, shattering the arrows shot from under him layer by layer. They hit Yang Ruihe like rolling stones, and wood chips flew all over the sky and the fiery wind howled.

Seeing that the distance was only ten feet, Daoxuan slashed to both sides with his sword. The surging sword energy immediately repelled the guards around him. He stretched out one hand to grab Yang Ruihe who was still standing motionless. At this time, Yang Ruihe's body flashed slightly to the left, and a guard appeared behind him. The guard's jaw was pale and the corners of his mouth were slightly grinning. A ball of black gas burst out from the palm of his hand with lightning and hit Daoxuan head-on.

Daoxuan didn't expect that there was such a powerful master hidden beside Yang Ruihe, and his cultivation was not inferior to his own. The distance was too close for him to dodge, so he had to collide with him head-on. He gathered his true energy in an instant, turned his claws into palms, and a white light suddenly flashed, "Boom..." With a loud thunder, two rays of light, one black and one white, collided with each other, and a hurricane spread out in all directions. The people around were blown away for several feet, and they all spurted blood. Dust cut their faces, and their ears roared.

Daoxuan's eyes went dark, his blood surged, his chest was blocked, he spat out a mouthful of blood, and his body flew backwards for several feet before he stopped. He was horrified, and had guessed that this person was Fenyuan. He scanned the area with his eyes, but could not find his figure. He knew that they must be hiding among the guards to kill them and leave them no chance to defend themselves. The only way to reverse the situation was to wait for the return of the national teacher. But he thought that the national teacher was very smart and should have thought of this situation. He had been chasing for so long and did not return. Did he encounter an accident? Or did he really escape with a huge fortune as Fusu said? This was all a scam. Thinking that the terracotta warriors were just immovable mixed gold clay, he felt uneasy all over his body.

Seeing Daoxuan's hesitation, Yang Ruihe laughed loudly and said, "If you surrender and confess, I will spare your life. If you insist on not changing your ways, I will make sure you die here today!"

Daoxuan laughed and said, "You think you can kill me? You don't know how high the sky is and how deep the earth is!" He jumped up, passed through the layers of encirclement, cut a bloody path, and rushed towards Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan and a few others were surrounded by the chaotic army and fought bloody battles. Although they were far away, their forces were weaker. A dozen or so of them rushed to their side. The two of them fought together. Daoxuan asked, "Why didn't the national teacher return?"

Jiang Yuan said: "We couldn't find any trace of the thief, and the national teacher realized something was wrong, so he ordered us to hurry back. He took the rest of the group to chase them, but we didn't expect to fall into their trap when we got back here!"

Daoxuan continued to ask: "Where did you chase him back to?"

"Follow the Wei River all the way to Sanchuan!"

"Ah!" Daoxuan exclaimed in amazement. After a long while, he finally said, "We were deceived!"

Jiang Yuan didn't understand what he meant and cursed, "Today I will tear these old foxes into pieces!"

"It's not them, it was Mayor Xu who deceived us!" Daoxuan said word by word.

"Ah, how is that possible? How can you believe what they say? You and I will join forces and rush to His Majesty to confront those old foxes!"

"Now that we are close to His Majesty, His Majesty will surely become suspicious, otherwise he would have ordered us to stop!"

"Now what?"

"The only plan now is to break out of the siege and look for the national teacher. If we find him, we will come back to confront them. If we can't find him, there is no need for us to come back!" Daoxuan sighed as he shook off the besieging soldiers.

Jiang Yuan said: "If we leave, wouldn't it be exactly what they want? Even if the Imperial Master comes back, we may have no chance!"

"But if the Imperial Master doesn't come back, won't we become scapegoats here?"

After Jiang Yuan heard this, his brows furrowed, his heart wavered, and he could not make up his mind whether to leave or stay. During the fierce fight, the sound of a golden gong echoed through the valley, and then someone shouted loudly: "Your Majesty has ordered that anyone who starts a war again will be killed without mercy!" The shouting and killing stopped immediately, and the soldiers retreated to both sides after hearing the order, leaving a wide open space of more than ten feet, leading directly to the imperial guards three hundred feet away.

Looking from afar, a passage had been cleared in the middle of the Imperial Guards. Ying Zheng was at the end of the passage, accompanied by Zhao Gao, Meng Yi and the four great imperial guards.

Yao Jia and the others did not expect that His Majesty would order a stop at this time. They cast their eyes on Meng Yi beside His Majesty, knowing that he must have said something in front of His Majesty. Then they heard Zhao Gao's sharp voice: "Chuan Daoxuan, Jiang Yuan and other disciples of the Xiandao Academy come forward to see the emperor!"

Yang Ruihe shouted, "Your Majesty, arrest them first and then interrogate them. Be careful that they may assassinate you!" The ministers echoed him. Ying Zheng had regained his dignity and ignored the advice of Yang Ruihe and others.

Daoxuan and Jiang Yuan looked at each other in surprise. They didn't expect that His Majesty would want to see them at this time. They walked slowly along the passage with only a few people.

When they were a hundred steps away from Ying Zheng, Zhao Gao shouted sharply, "Stop!"

Jiang Yuan and others stopped, stood sternly, staring at Yao Jia and others on both sides, wishing they could eat them alive.

Ying Zheng opened his mouth and asked loudly: "Jiang Yuan, I want to ask you, what happened? Where did the Imperial Master go?"

Jiang Yuan bowed and said, "Your Majesty, after we discovered that the five-colored stone was stolen last night, we followed the national teacher to chase the thief. When we chased him to Sanchuan, the thief disappeared. The national teacher realized that we had fallen into a trap set by the traitors, so he ordered us to come back to protect Your Majesty. We didn't expect to see the disciples of the Immortal Dao Academy outside the Valley being besieged by them when we came back, and when we came to see Your Majesty, we were ordered to kill by this group of traitors. If it weren't for Your Majesty's wisdom, their evil plan would have succeeded!" He stared at Yao Jia and the others.

Yang Ruihe said coldly: "Is there anyone in this world that the Imperial Master cannot catch up with? How could such an important five-colored stone be stolen so easily? The eldest prince saw the treasure of the huge ship with his own eyes and was trapped in it. What are you still trying to argue about? Humph, he must have asked you to come back to delay while he boarded the ship alone in Sanchuan and escaped with the huge fortune!"

Jiang Yuan said: "Bah, the wicked complain first, this is all a conspiracy designed by you, you want to get rid of our Xiandao Academy and put an end to your majesty's dream of becoming a god. What do you know, a bunch of ignorant and reckless people? When the national teacher comes back, I will definitely find your tail!"

Yao Jia said in a cold voice: "May I ask, Immortal, does your Xiandao Academy have that giant ship? Where is that giant ship now?"

Jiang Yuan said: "That is the cargo ship used to build the Immortal Palace. It is currently being tested. This has been approved by His Majesty!"

Yao Jia asked sternly, "Why not do it earlier or later, but only now? And do you have to go so far for the first test?" Seeing Jiang Yuan speechless, he said sternly, "Because all the civil and military officials are in Mount Li today, he can sail into the Bohai Sea unimpeded after receiving your majesty's order, and then go around the East China Sea and rush to southern Xinjiang to offer the treasures of our Great Qin to the barbarians of Nanyue!" When these words came out, everyone was shocked. They found that Tu Sui was leading an army of 400,000 to fight in southern Xinjiang. If so, Xu Shi was collaborating with the enemy and selling out his country.

Jiang Yuan angrily said: "You are slandering me, what nonsense!"

Yao Jia snorted coldly, took out a letter from his sleeve, and said, "This is a letter just sent by General Tu from Southern Xinjiang yesterday. It is a secret letter he intercepted at the border. Please take a look at it and see what the content of this secret letter is?" Then he handed it to Li Si.

Li Si took the secret letter, opened it and saw that he could not recognize any of the words. There was a double snake totem seal below, which was obviously the Tu language of southern Xinjiang. He shook his head and handed it to the people from the Doctoral Academy behind him. Zhou Qingchen frowned and looked at it for a while before saying, "This is the language of the Xizhen tribe. It seems to be a letter written by their leader to the country..., Xu Shi!" After hearing this, everyone was even more shocked and was convinced of what Yao Jia said.

Yao Jia said: "The Minister of State is indeed knowledgeable and well-informed. I asked someone to identify it yesterday, but I could only identify a few things. Most of them were code words. However, this is definitely a secret letter sent to Mayor Xu!"

Jiang Yuan said sternly: "Who would believe you if you tried to frame the Imperial Master with just a forged letter?"

Yao Jia said sternly: "No one would believe a secret letter alone, but if you connect all these things together, won't the truth be revealed?"

In fact, Jiang Yuan also began to doubt in his heart. He didn't know how to defend himself for a moment when he was questioned by Yao Jia. He looked at Daoxuan beside him and saw that Daoxuan was also frowning and thinking. It was obvious that he had believed it most of the time.

Yao Jia sneered and bowed to Ying Zheng, saying, "Your Majesty, if we send troops to intercept Xu Shi before he escapes too far, we can still bring him back. I beg Your Majesty to give the order to pursue him!" After saying that, he knelt on the ground. After hearing this, the ministers knelt down and pleaded without hesitation.

Ying Zheng sighed and said in a deep voice: "Since the evidence is irrefutable and all the ministers agree, then we will send pigeons to all the counties along the way to intercept the ship. If anyone disobeys, they will be executed on the spot!"

"I have a question!"

When everyone looked in the direction of the voice, they discovered that Wuzhan was the only minister who was still standing and did not kneel down to beg. Yao Jia and others saw Wuzhan's calm look and thought to themselves that something was wrong.

……

(End of this chapter)